Surviving the horror
by nerdyy.girl
Summary: TEMPORARY HIATUS! Adam has suddenly gon emissing and Sydney O'Donnell feels it is her place to go and find him. This story takes place before, during and after the horrendous event. Changes from original movie. All comments welcome! AdamxOC
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own any one part of SAW, I'm just a _huge _fan.

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**Author's Note:** I'm sorry my chapters take a while to get up, I'm only allowed computer time at school. Enjoy. R&R please.

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"Do you remember anything from that day?"

"I remember everything about that day. That was the day my life turned into a nightmare…"

"_Sydney!" Morgan, my assistant yelled from across the room._

"_What?" I called back, pushing a hand through my dark red hair in frustration._

"_It's Adam." She said, flustered when she came upon my desk._

_I froze. "What about Adam?" I asked slowly, cautiously._

"_He-He's gone missing." She said, her voice slightly panicked._

_My head snapped up and my heart momentarily stopped. "What?" I asked softly._

"_A-Adam. He-He's missing." Her fingers twisted nervously._

_I swallowed hard, stood up and got a little lightheaded. I slammed my hands down on my desk so as not to fall. "How long has he been missing?"_

"_They're thinking a week." She said softly._

_I took a deep breath. "Have the police been notified?"_

"_Yes. Adam's landlord reported him missing after he didn't pay his rent."_

_I reached over to the computer keyboard and saved the article I had been working on. I turned to Morgan. "I'm going to the police station. Will you take care of things here?" I asked._

_Morgan nodded; holding out my hooded sweatshirt, messenger bag and car keys. "I figured you'd want to leave right away." _

_I smiled. "Thanks." I pulled the sweatshirt over my head, grabbed the keys and bag and left my computer terminal at a brisk pace, ignoring anyone who meant to talk to me._

_I walked out of the building and quickly found my Civic. I climbed in and started the car. _

"And then…?" The detective asked.

"And then I came directly here." I said.

"And that was when?"

"Last Tuesday." I said, examining my clenched hands that were resting in my lap.

"Ok. I'll be right back. Do you need anything?" He asked kindly.

I shook my head. _The only thing I need is Adam_, I thought.

I sighed and let my head fall back. _Adam_, I thought sadly. Adam and I have been best friends since grade school. He, the cool older one and me, the smaller, younger and wittier of the two. I am now 19 and Adam is 21. _I wonder, is his disappearance is a cover-up for his suicide? _I shook my head. No, no. I won't think that. Though Adam has had some rough times, he'd never do that…I hope.

I buried my face in my hands. _Adam Faulkner, where are you?_

"Miss O'Donnell?" The detective asked, laying a gentle hand on my shoulder.

I jerked back; I hadn't heard him come in. "I'm sorry. I have some additional questions to ask you."

I nodded. "Ok."

He set a bottle of water down in front of me. "These are going to be difficult to hear." He said, sitting down.

I nodded again. "Does he have any known enemies?"

"As I told the last detective, no."

He took a deep breath. "Do you think he could have been murdered?"

I stared at him. "Why would anyone murder him? He's a wallflower. All Adam does is attend concerts and take pictures."

He hesitated. "The other detective informed me that you had said that Adam suffered from depression." I nodded and he continued. "Do you think he could have committed suicide?"

I jumped up, sending my chair back to hit the wall behind me. I placed my hands on the table and leaned forward. "Never." I said fiercely. I pushed away from the table, pacing. "He wouldn't.. Sure, he's been depressed, but he knew he could come to me for help. We've been friends for 12 years; I've always been there for him. _Always_. Whenever his parents fought, every taunt, every F, every break-up. And he was there for me too. He would never kill himself. _Never_." I babbled, still pacing around the room like a caged tiger.

I stopped pacing and leaned against the wall behind me. "Adam." I said softly. I slid down the wall and sat on the floor, knees drawn up to my chest, arms resting on them. "I need you." I tearfully whispered.

I let my head drop down onto my arms and cried the tears I've been holding in for the past two and a half weeks. I cried until I thought I could cry no longer. A few minutes later, the detective cleared his throat.

"Miss O'Donnell? Are you all right?"

I looked up at him. "Yeah, I'll be fine." I got up, moved the chair back to the table and sat down. "I'm sorry about that. I-I…" I stammered.

"It's fine. You shouldn't hold your emotions in." He said kindly. "I think that's it for today. We'll call you with any new developments."

"Ok." I said, standing up. We shook hands and I slowly left the room. As I walked thorough the lobby, I caught sight of my reflection. My mascara and eyeliner had made dark tracks down my face and my eyes were red and puffy from crying. _Aren't I a sight for sore eyes?_ I wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my sweatshirt and walked out of the building and to my car. I sat behind the steering wheel and let my head drop down. _Adam._ I thought. _Where are you?_

Later at my apartment, I sat on the couch, TV on mute, thinking. A half eaten pint of ice cream lay forgotten on the coffee table. I absently picked fuzz off of the blanket covering my curled legs. _Where is he? Is he all right? Is he alone? Is he scared? Is he…dead?_ Those thoughts raced through my head as I slowly drifted to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

I dreamt that I was running…

_I ran down a deserted hallway. It smelled like…sewage and something worse – decay. I kept running even though I wanted to stop and turn around. I felt drawn to something…or someone. I came upon a heavy door and after much struggling, I managed to open it. Once I saw what was inside, I screamed. There was a dead body in the middle of the decrepit bathroom, surrounded by a pool of blood. To my right was an older blond man, sitting forlorn in a corner, chained to a pipe, oblivious to my presence. Across the room was…Adam! He too was sitting forlorn in the opposite corner, chained to a pipe. He looked up and saw me._

"_Sydney!" He cried in surprise._

"_Adam!" I tried to cross the threshold into the bathroom, but I couldn't. "Adam!" I cried again._

"_Sydney, please help me!" He reached out a hand to me._

"_Adam, I'll try! I swear it!" An imaginary force suddenly drew me back. "Adam!" I screamed into the darkness. An address popped into my head like a blinding white light: 213 Stygian Street._

I awoke the next morning bathed in a cold sweat. A rabid thought erupted in me: I knew where Adam was! I hurriedly dressed and jumped into my Civic, speeding all the way to the police station.

I rushed into the building and went to see Detective Tristan, the same detective as before. When I barged into his office, he looked up startled. "Sydney, what's the matter?" He asked, standing up.

"I-I know where-where Adam is!" I panted excitedly.

"You do! How'd you find out?"

"I had a dream. Adam was there, chained to a pipe in an old bathroom. There was another man also chained up. And there was a body in between them. We have to help them!" I explained hurriedly.

"A dream you say. Hm." Detective Tristan said, sitting down.

"What-What are you doing? We have to help them!" I cried in disbelief.

"We have no hard evidence that they are, in fact, where you say they are." He explained coolly.

"But-But I know they're there…" I stammered weakly.

"We can't just barge into someplace and look for people we don't even know are there."

I shoved my hands in my pockets and paced around the small office. "But we have to find him, I promised!"

Detective Tristan must have seen something half-crazed in my green eyes because he said, "Miss O'Donnell, you're not going to go there, are you?"

I looked at him. "Of course not, do you think I'm crazy?" I lied, fingers crossed in my pockets.

"Ok." He said in relief. He stood up and crossed the small distance that was between us and laid a gentle hand on the middle of my back, gently escorting me out of his office. "Go home and get some rest, let us handle this."

I sighed and slowly walked through the station and out to my Civic, thinking along the way. As I neared my car, I made up my mind, _I'm going._


	3. Chapter 3

Thirty minutes later, I pulled up to an old warehouse. _213 Stygian Street, here I come_, I thought. I parked and got out, walking slowly up to the front door. I opened the front door and it creaked. I opened it further and saw various clutter and tables piled up on one another. I saw a staircase leading up and made my way up it. I came upon another level and saw a desk with a computer, a radio and some other assorted items. Next to the desk I saw a K2K graffiti emblem. Nice.

I moved into a room separated with a chain-link fence. Upon a raised platform, I saw various tables with objects on them. Over the tables lay were red sheets. I admit I was curious but I was here for one thing: Adam.

I found another set of stairs leading down into semi-darkness. I slowly made my way down them, my breath coming faster. Once I was down the stairs, I found a long corridor. I heard an odd, out of place noise behind me and my already frail nerves got the best of me: I ran.

As I ran from an imaginary foe, I realized I recognized the corridor as the one in my dream. I wasn't really looking at where my feet were landing and I soon found myself kissing the concrete, figuratively speaking of course . I sat up and looked at what I tripped over. A scream threatened to tear through my throat. I had tripped over a dead body! It was the other chained man from my dream and he was missing a foot. And he was dead, very, _very_ dead. I slowly got up, trying not to vomit. I pulled the sleeve of my sweatshirt over my hand and breathed through that. I jogged the rest of the way through the twists and turns until I came upon the door.

I opened it and stared into complete darkness. Two things happened at once: I heard a small whimper and the overpowering smell of decay overwhelmed me. I dropped down onto the hard floor and vomited violently. I heard a whimper again and I shakily stood up, using the doorframe for support. I ran my hand over the wall, looking for a light switch. I found it and switched it on. Bright fluorescent lights came to life almost immediately. I heard a small moan from across the room and I squinted. Adam!

The body that was in the middle of the room was gone but a new had replaced it and was laying next to Adam. I called his name and ran across the room.

"Syd-Sydney?" He asked weakly, trying to focus on me.

"Yes. It's me, little Siddie." I said, using his childhood nickname for me. I dropped to my knees next to him and ran a hand through his hair.

"I thought y-you weren't going to come a-and break your p-promise." He said weakly, reaching a hand out to me. I clasped it tightly.

"No, I'd never break a promise to you, never." I said, tears silently streaming down my face.

"Wh-Where's Lawrence? He-He went for help." Adam said, looking at me, eyes intense.

I bit my lower lip. _He must have been the guy I tripped over._ I thought and shuddered at the memory of it. "Adam, I'm sorry. He didn't make it." I said tenderly.

He let his head drop down and I saw his shoulders shaking. "Adam?" I asked, moving closer.

He suddenly moved, wrapping his hands around my waist, burying his face in my lap. I ran one hand through his hair and the other gently over his back. I comforted him until his sobs had subsided. He looked up at me, and I smiled gently. His tears had made clean tracks down his grimy face. His light eyes were fixed on mine. "Help me."

"How?" I asked.

"The key to the chain is in the bathtub." He said wryly.

I got up and walked over to the bathtub. I climbed in turned to Adam. "Where in the bathtub?"

"Down the drain."

I fished my keys from my pocket and unhooked my magnetic keychain. I unlatched one of the many necklaces that decorate my neck and latched it onto my keychain. I held onto one end of the necklace and let it dangle into the drain. "Damn." I muttered. "Too short." I pulled it out and attached three more necklaces. I lowered it again and after a few moments, I felt it latch onto something. "Aha!" I cried triumphantly.

I pulled the keys back out, jumped out of the tub and walked back to Adam. He was sitting up now, a look of pure euphoria on his face.

I crouched down and stuck the key in the lock and turned it. Once his foot was free from the manacle, he slowly stood up, a look of wonder crossing his features.

He took a step and stumbled. "Easy now, Tiger." I said, throwing his left arm around my shoulders. I helped him walk through the room and into the corridors. We walked in complete silence until, twenty minutes later, we came upon Lawrence.


	4. Author's Note and apology!

**A/N: I'd just like to apologize to all my readers for not updating _at all_.I've been uber busy with work and school. And I'm currently re-writing my two published stories and I'm working on more. Yes, more. So look out for new things in the future! Again, I'm _so_ sorry!! I love you all. Really, I do. :)**


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